Digital Commons Network^™

Front Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Benchmarking Evaluation In Foundations: Do We Know What We Are Doing?, Julia Coffman, Tanya Beer, Patricia Patrizi, Elizabeth Heid Thompson

The Foundation Review

· Evaluation in philanthropy – with staff assigned to evaluation-related responsibilities – began in the 1970s and has evolved, along with philanthropy, in the four decades since. What has not changed, however, is a regular questioning of what foundations are doing on evaluation, especially since the world of philanthropy regularly shifts, and changes in evaluation resourcing and positioning tend to soon follow.

· This article presents new findings about what foundations are doing on evaluation and discusses their implications. It is based on 2012 research that benchmarks the positioning, resourcing, and function of evaluation in foundations, and follows up on …

Getting To Collective Impact: How Funders Can Contribute Over The Life Course Of The Work, Douglas Easterling

The Foundation Review

· Foundations have a long tradition of convening and funding collaborative groups with the hope that this will lead to large-scale impact.

· Although funder-driven collaboration sometimes leads to breakthrough solutions, foundations have also pushed the participating organizations into artificial, awkward, and unsustainable efforts.

· This article argues that funders should support naturally emerging networks and should tailor their support to match the network’s stage of development.

· A five-stage developmental model is introduced and illustrated through a case study of the Central Appalachian Network (CAN).

· Over CAN’s 20-year history, a succession of regional and national foundations have played …

Moving From Partnership To Collective Accountability And Sustainable Change: Applying A Systems-Change Model To Foundations’ Evolving Roles, Karen W. Linkins, Lynda E. Frost, Becky Hayes Boober, Jennifer J. Brya

The Foundation Review

· In a time of scarce resources and significant needs, funders may seek to maximize the impact of their grantmaking through collaboration. While many foundations move well from identifying a problem to building broader awareness and forging key partnerships, they typically flounder in trying to move beyond collaboration to a sense of mutual responsibility or collective accountability for the greater good, which is a precondition for sustainable systems change.

· This article discusses three complex initiatives that made sustainable changes in integrated behavioral health and primary care. Using a conceptual framework based on the Building Blocks of Systems Change model, …

Eyes Wide Open: Learning As Strategy Under Conditions Of Complexity And Uncertainty, Patricia Patrizi, Elizabeth Heid Thompson, Julia Coffman, Tanya Beer

The Foundation Review

· Foundation strategy is hampered by a failure to recognize and engage with the complexity and uncertainty surrounding foundation work. This article identifies three common “traps” that hinder foundation capacity to learn and adapt: 1) linearity and certainty bias; 2) the autopilot effect; and 3) indicator blindness.

· This article urges foundations to alter their mindset, questions, and processes to foster a more committed approach to strategy and adaptation. In essence, it argues for learning as strategy.

· This article draws on literature from systems theory, business strategy, and philanthropic practice as well as data from foundation benchmarking surveys.

Talent Philanthropy: Investing In Nonprofit People To Advance Nonprofit Performance, Rusty Morgen Stahl

The Foundation Review

· This article argues that people are the primary asset that drives performance in the social sector, but that despite their importance they are undersupported. Funders could make major strides in their own effectiveness and in the performance of their grantees by explicitly investing in grantee talent and talent-support systems. Such support could build a critical mass of diverse leadership in society and dramatically improve the ability of the social sector to advance social change.

· The first part of this article reframes the talent challenge facing the nonprofit sector, highlighting urgent issues and chronic structural flaws.

· The second …

Lessons From Patchwork Nation: A New Framework For Building Community Indicators, Stephen Borders, James Edwards, Ashley Miller

The Foundation Review

· As interest in outcomes continues to rise, community indicators have become a widely used tool to measure progress. While indicators provide a vehicle for understanding and addressing community issues from a holistic perspective, current efforts seem to suffer from both a notable absence of local-level data and end-user information overload, whereby the presentation of numerous and often disconnected indicators makes it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the analysis.

· We highlight the results and our experiences with a community health needs assessment conducted through an indicator project in Michigan’s Kent County. The analysis and visualization of the indicator …

Privacy And Publicly Available Personal Information, Teresa Scassa

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article begins with a review of the structure of PIPEDA in order to situate the exception within its statutory context. This is followed by a detailed consideration of the exception for publicly available information. The article then offers a discussion of whether the scope of this exception should be expanded, and offers an alternative.

Identifying Barriers To Weight Management For Cancer Survivors, Jennifer Brennan Rd, Cso, Ldn, Janine Gilboy Rd, Ldn, Erin Levine Rd, Cso, Ldn, Kelley Koplin

Clinical Nutrition Service

No abstract provided.

How Can Physicians’ Knowledge Be Activated To Provide Better Healthcare? Explaining Electronic Health Record Adaptation By Physicians., Cherie Noteboom, Sajda Qureshi

Research & Publications

Despite the rising costs of healthcare and falling quality of care, the integration of EHR (Electronic Health Records) in supporting collaboration to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare remains a challenge. It appears that the physicians are at the center of this bottleneck. The literature suggests that the reasons for the limited use relate to policy, financial and usability considerations, but it does not provide an understanding of reasons for physicians' limited interaction and adaptation of EHR. Following an analysis of qualitative data, collected in a case study at a hospital using interviews, this research shows how a collaborative …

Towards A Business Intelligence Maturity Model For Healthcare, Patti Brooks, Omar El-Gayar, Surendra Sarnikar

Research & Publications

Healthcare is a very complex, knowledge-driven industry. Electronic health record implementations have created massive amounts of clinical and financial data. The accumulation of data is outpacing the ability of organizations to leverage the data for improving financial and clinical efficiencies and quality of care. It is believed that careful and attentive use of business intelligence (BI) in healthcare can transform data into knowledge that can improve patient outcomes and operational efficiency. BI maturity models are a way of identifying strengths and weaknesses of the information maturity of a business. This paper presents a comprehensive review of existing BI maturity models …

An Approach For Criminal Career Analysis Using Hazard Patterns, Carl A. Janzen, Amit Deokar, Omar F. El-Gayar

Research & Publications

No abstract provided.

Aligning It Assets To Maximize Healthcare Organizational Performance, Paul Weist, Surendra Sarnikar, Omar F. El-Gayar

Research & Publications

This study examines the impact of healthcare information technology assets on organizational efficiency. Using an econometric approach with data envelopment analysis, we examine the effect of IT asset clusters on organizational efficiency as measured relative to a peer group of healthcare organizations We observe that different IT asset clusters have varying effects on organizational efficiency based on the size of the organizations. The results of this study have implications for healthcare organizations in planning their investments across various IT asset clusters.

Information Security Policy Compliance: An Empirical Study Of Ethical Ideology, Ahmad Al-Omari, Amit Deokar, Omar F. El-Gayar, Jack Walters

Research & Publications

Information security policy compliance (ISP) is one of the key concerns that face organizations today. Although technical and procedural measures help improve information security, there is an increased need to accommodate human, social and organizational factors. Despite the plethora of studies that attempt to identify the factors that motivate compliance behavior or discourage abuse and misuse behaviors, there is a lack of studies that investigate the role of ethical ideology per se in explaining compliance behavior. The purpose of this research is to investigate the role of ethics in explaining Information Security Policy (ISP) compliance. In that regard, a model …

On The Design Of It-Enabled Self-Care Systems: A Socio-Technical Perspective, Omar F. El-Gayar, Surendra Sarnikar, Abdullah Hamdi Saleh Wahbeh

Research & Publications

Advances in information technology (IT) have resulted in a proliferation of IT-based solution to support the self-care and management for healthy individuals as well as patients with chronic conditions. Despite these advances, the adoption and diffusion of these solutions into practice is limited. The objective of this paper is to enhance adoption and diffusion by providing actionable recommendations for the design of IT systems for self-care. The recommendations are grounded in socio-technical design theory and in an extensive review of self-care literature. The findings indicate that despite the diversity of disease conditions, users, technologies, and implementation environments, IT-solutions for self-care …

Formissional Worship: Curriculum Design And Delivery, Gregory B. Rosser

ATS Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to measure the cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral changes in students concerning formissional worship as a result of a Master of Ministry class at Mount Vernon Nazarene University entitled Christian Worship. The scriptural foundation was the Shema (Deut. 6:4-5), quoted by Jesus in the Greatest Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40; Mark 12:29-31). The curricular outline was worship as invitation, revelation, participation, formation, contextualization, incarnation, and integration. The instruments used to gather data from the students were two surveys and an online threaded discussion by the students during class. The surveys framed the class as a pre- and …

From The "Church For" To The "Church With" : A Study Of Diaspora Missions In South Korea, Yuno Kim

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Call Waiting : The Young Clergy Crisis In The United Methodist Church, David Thomas Rittgers

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Outil D'Aide À La Planification Pour Une Manutention Manuelle Sécuritaire, Monique Lortie, Marie St-Vincent

Fiches

No abstract provided.

Harmonizing Individual And Ecclesiastical Expectations With The Institution Of Theological Education, Meeli Tankler

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Embolization With Histoacryl Glue Of An Anastomotic Pseudoaneurysm Following Surgical Repair Of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, Ayesha Walid, Tanveer Ul Haq, Raza Sayani, Zia Ur Rehman

Department of Radiology

We report a 62-year-old female who had surgical repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm with a bifurcated graft 2 years ago. She presented with a distal anastomotic pseudoaneurysm which was successfully embolized with histoacryl glue. Only one such similar case has been reported in the literature so far (Yamagami et al. (2006)).

Treatment Of Nonvariceal Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage By Transcatheter Embolization, Muhammad Ali, Tanveer Ul Haq, Basit Salam, Madiha Beg, Raza Sayani, Muhammad Azeemuddin

Department of Radiology

Purpose. To investigate the sensitivity of mesenteric angiography, technical success of hemostasis, clinical success rate, and complications of transcatheter embolization for the treatment of acute nonvariceal gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Material and Methods. A retrospective review of 200 consecutive patients who underwent mesenteric arteriography for acute nonvariceal gastrointestinal hemorrhage between February 2004 and February 2011 was done. Results. Of 200 angiographic studies, 114 correctly revealed the bleeding site with mesenteric angiography. 47 (41%) patients had upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage and 67 (59%) patients had lower gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Out of these 114, in 112 patients (98%) technical success was achieved with immediate cessation of …

Mri Features Of Spinal Fluorosis: Results Of An Endemic Community Screening, Iftekhar Ahmed, Saba Sohail, Munawwar Hussain, Nazeer Khan, Masood Hameed Khan

Department of Radiology

Objectives: Fluorosis is endemic in many parts of the world. However community studies on MRI features of fluorosis are lacking. The aim of this study was to determine MRI features of spinal changes in a community with endemic fluorosis in the Thar Desert Pakistan.
Methodology: Randomly selected adults from the Village Samorindh, district Tharparker, Sindh, Pakistan, with spinal fluorosis diagnosed on plain x-rays and raised serum fluoride levels were studied from June 2008 to January 2009. MRI was carried out on 0.5 T open magnet MRI system. Features of vertebral body, spinal ligaments, intervertebral disc, facet joints, iliac wings and …

Back To The Future Of Abortion Regulation In The First Term, Tracy A. Thomas

Akron Law Faculty Publications

Abortion and women's reproductive rights have reemerged as front-page news. As popular culture grapples with election rhetoric, states continue to engage in aggressive anti-abortion regulation of first-term abortions. In the first half of 2011, more abortion bills have passed to restrict abortion than ever before. The 162 new abortion bills passed by 19 states in the first six months of the year dwarf the average number of abortion bills for the last three decades of 15 per year. Even more, these bills propose significantly more stringent limits on abortion than in the past, including mandatory ultrasound viewings, intensive counseling, and …

Comprehensive Care: Pastoral Care Of People Living With Hiv/Aids In The Pilgrim Wesleyan Church In Zambia, Stephen Sitali Kakungu

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Practicing Like Jesus: A Study Of Christian Spiritual Disciplines, Baxter S. Hurley

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Pastor As Leader : Assessment, Change, And Growth In Pastoral Leadership Style And Ability, David C. Crofford

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Faculty Perceptions Of The Importance Of Internationalizing The General Education Curriculum In The Florida College System, Bonnie M. Clark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of community college general education faculty members regarding their perceptions of the importance of internationalizing the general education curriculum and to what extent those perceptions are related to their attitudes toward globalization. The study further examined the degree to which faculty members perceive that they are incorporating the teaching of global competencies into their courses. Finally, the study looked at faculty members' perceptions of administrative support - both from the perspective of what they felt their college should be doing to support internationalization and what their college was actually doing …

The Relationship Among Career Thoughts, Optimism, And Spirituality In Women Diagnosed With Breast Cancer, Levette Subraina Dames

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship of dysfunctional career thoughts, optimism, and spirituality on Bahamian women (n=212) diagnosed with breast cancer. Also, it examined how optimism mediates the relationship between spirituality and dysfunctional career thoughts. The diagnosis of breast cancer impacts women physically, psychologically, socially, spiritually, financially, and in their career development. Career developmental plans and decisions are continuously being made. However, plans may become altered and decisions more difficult to make when a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer as she considers returning to work. The high survival rate of breast cancer patients indicates women may continue to work after …